Nokia And Swisscom To Deploy Drone Network In Switzerland

Remotely controlled drones have made inspecting, maintaining and examining hazardous, hostile and critical operations much easier for businesses and organizations.

This advanced technology offers a wide range of benefits for emergency services, law enforcement, agriculture, delivery, construction, logistics and more.

This is what Nokia Drone Networks and Swisscom Broadcast are looking to benefit from, through their new partnership.

So, what does the collaboration between the two companies consist of and what advantages do they offer? Let’s explore!
 

What Is The Nokia And Swisscom Broadcast Partnership About?

 

• Through news releases published on Nokia’s and Swisscom’s websites, the two companies announced that Swisscom Broadcast selected Nokia’s Drone Networks solution to deploy a nationwide Drones-as-a-Service (DaaS) network across Switzerland.

• As per the plan, the two companies will deploy 300 Nokia Drone-in-a-Box units to enable emergency response, to keep public safety workers and first responders safe.

• This will also help save the lives of victims involved in such incidents and help first responders gather crucial relevant information and situational awareness within the first few minutes.

• Nokia’s drones can also be used for perimeter protection, in the case of protecting critical infrastructure, production locations, public spaces, prisons, borders and police or military facilities.

• Additionally, they can be deployed to examine, inspect, evaluate and maintain tall, hazardous or hard-to-reach infrastructure, such as power lines, bridges and buildings.

• The drones, which supports Switzerland's public safety and Industry 4.0 efforts, will leverage mission-critical industrial edge computing (MXIE) and 3GPP technology to provide beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) autonomous operation.

• Swiss public safety agencies will be able to operate the drones remotely and can gain access by requesting a drone flight from Swisscom Broadcast.

• Furthermore, they will be supported by a service portfolio consisting of expertise, compliance, data collection and analysis of collected data from Nokia and Swisscom Broadcast.

• Nokia’s Drone-in-a-Box solution comes with a drone, a docking station, a ground control station, a payload with video and thermal cameras, related software and service components.

• It also supports interfaces and APIs for easy third-party integrations, such as traffic monitoring systems, video management software, dispatch solutions and industrial inspection and process monitoring systems.

• The collaboration will facilitate “the advancement of industrial use cases, automation, beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations, and the expansion of 3GPP technologies for drone use in Switzerland.”

• The move marks the second nationwide Nokia Drone Networks project after Belgium's Citymesh deployment, which was announced in February 2024.

 

What Did Nokia And Swisscom Broadcast Executives Say?

 

• Raghav Sahgal, President of Cloud and Network Services at Nokia, said, “We are proud to partner with Swisscom Broadcast, a true innovator in drones-as-a-services operation, for this important project to establish a nationwide Drone-as-a-Service network in Switzerland.”

• [Contd.] “Nokia Drone Networks solution enables large-scale projects as it incorporates our mission-critical industrial edge (MXIE) technology to power its advanced computing functions and software.”

• [Contd.] “It will undoubtedly help Swiss enterprises gain access to a superior Drones-as-a-Service offering to enhance worker and public safety.”

• Dominik Müller, CEO at Swisscom Broadcast, said, “We are pleased to select Nokia as a partner for this important infrastructure project in Switzerland.”

• [Contd.] “Together, we can speed up the go-to-market of our Drones-as-a-Service offering to our customers in the industrial and public safety landscape in Switzerland.”

• [Contd.] “The integration of our existing People Density Tool and our Drone Operations expertise with Nokia’s industrial grade hardware in combination with an open and future proof Software architecture is an important key to support such large-scale projects.”

• Müller added, “The development of the nationwide drone network marks a further milestone in the development of digital security solutions in Switzerland.”

• [Contd.] “With Nokia’s Drone Networks, we are adopting an established, end-to-end solution for networked drones with industrial and public security applications.”

• [Contd.] “In Nokia, I am confident that we have a strong partner by our side. Together, we can take drone-based security to the next level.”

Do you think other organizations and governments should make similar collaborations with Nokia Drone Networks? Do you think Nokia’s rivals should make similar moves?

Let us know in the comments below!